Purchase Activity at Record High Refinance Volume Jumps In Latest Application Survey

June 15, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 10. The Market Composite Index - a measure of mortgage loan application volume - was 887.0, an increase of 17.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 755.5 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 29.2 percent compared with last week and was up 46.1 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 10.4 percent to 529.3, a record high, from 479.3 the previous week whereas the seasonally-adjusted Refinance Index increased by 25.6 percent to 2967.4 from 2362.1 one week earlier.

"This week there was a combination of record-setting purchase activity as well as a substantial pickup in refinance applications, with the refinance index at its highest level since April 2004," said Michael Fratantoni, senior director of single-family research and economics.

Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which increased 18.0 percent to 1339.8 from 1135.1 the previous week, and the Government Index, which increased 7.7 percent to 131.3 from 121.9 the previous week.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 46.4 percent of total applications from 42.9 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 30.9 percent of total applications from 31.7 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.62 percent from 5.55 percent one week earlier, with points increasing to 1.25 from 1.12 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.18 percent from 5.13 percent one week earlier, with points increasing to 1.32 from 1.11 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 4.38 percent from 4.09 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 0.96 from 1.00 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: MBA


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